Strawberry's Jade Palace
by Spiral Nightingale
Summary: Ichigo ran away from his home 10 years ago because he had been raped by Aizen and then heartbroken because of some insensitive things done by Grimmjow. Ichigo now works at a brothel living off tips and minimum wage. Then one day, Some men came to take him away and back to the palace on Aizen's orders and now, on the run, will Ichigo face his past? Read the full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Ahhhh, it's finally out! Now I wonder who'll actually read and comment ._.

This is an AU so don't expect it to have exactly correct character relationships between one another. I don't know how it's gonna end up as of now but so far, I DO know that it's gonna be a yaoi so if you don't like that kinda stuff, please leave if you're gonna hate it and then flame me.

Set in the way long past … Like, Feudal Era type of time period.

Oh, also, I tend to switch between past and present tense a lot so ... please try to ignore it.

And one last thing, if you've already read the first 2 chapters, this is the same thing ... just kinda condensed cause I felt that the second chapter had more AN's than actual story.

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Warnings: Mature, Yaoi, Alternate Universe, Bad language, Violence, Mentions of Rape/Non-Con, Shouta, Slight OOC-ness

Warnings will be updated as chapters go on since I don't wanna go back to this first chapter every time a new thing develops and I need to add a warning for it.

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Summary: Ichigo is a 17-year-old boy and we works at a brothel as a male prostitute, a very popular one at that. But he has a secret, he's the missing prince of the Jade Palace. He ran away at 10 years ago with his bodyguard, Yasutora "Chad" Sado because he'd been raped by his uncle, Sousuke Aizen ever since he was 5. The only reason Ichi had stayed until he was 7 was because his best friend and crush, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was there. One day though, Ichi saw Grimmjow kissing Szayel Aporro Granz, AKA the palace whore. Feeling discontent and hurt, Ichigo decided to ignore what he saw and what he feels in order to hopefully stay near Grimmjow. That is, until poor 7-year-old Ichi walks in on Grimmjow, who was 14 at the time, about to fuck Szayel Aporro. Despite being only 7, Ichigo knew what Grimmjow was about to do because of Aizen raping him every other night. Hurt and torn, Ichigo decides to leave the palace and Sado comes with.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or it's characters. That's Tite Kubo. I DO own the story line and plot ... as far as I know since I haven't read anything fanfics or books that inspired this, if I'm wrong, please tell me ._.

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_**Strawberry's Jade Palace**_

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Looking around at the sweaty men sitting in cheap chairs the brothel provided, drinking alcohol like there's no tomorrow and practically pulling money out of their asses, I feel nothing but disgust. They make me want to throw up but I have to keep a straight face though, because a disgusted face would most likely not attract me any customers. I only put up with the men because they have money that I need to pay the rent and buy food. Chad said he'd help pay for this month's expenses if I couldn't bring in enough money but I feel so guilty when I don't pull my own weight. Chad's too nice to complain so if I let him, he would just keep on paying for everything, even if he went bankrupt in the process. I can't let him do that to himself, he's too selfless and he's been my best friend since I was 7.

I start to saunter over to a regular of mine that isn't a total pervert, can hold decent conversation and doesn't make me feel completely nauseous. He's not that bad looking either, some might even call him handsome but he's still not my type.

"You going to see Shiro?" My friend Yumichika cut off my advance with his regular customer, lover/boyfriend and fuck buddy, Ikaku. Rangiku appears as well with her little brother, Hitsugaya and Momo, another brothel member and Hitsugaya's childhood friend/crush. The three of them had been Ichigo's first friends when he first started to work at the brothel and they all specialized in their own type of seduction. Yumichika specialized with gay men who liked crossdressers, Rangiku specialized in people with breast fetishes and Momo specialized with people who liked more shouta type partners. I have a specialty too, my specialty is men who like their partners hard to get and sassy. That's really good since I probably could never pull off he other specialties, with my sarcasm and almost constant scowl.

As I come out of my flashback of the past, I hear them jesting and jeering about how I've taken a liking to Shiro despite my usual reluctance to see him. Not that I like him or anything. He just serves as a way for me to relieve my boredom. That's all he is, so don't start thinking otherwise.

I continue my gait to where Shiro is sitting and stand in front of him. Starting our usual jesting, I say "What are _you_ doing here?" My voice drips of disdain and a hint of excitement.

Unfazed, Shiro responded arrogantly, "Hey, little Berry. How you doin'?"

Well, I guess it's more like _my_ usual jesting and his arrogant responses. "Doing just fine without you." I reply with a smirk.

"You could be even more fine _with _me. My offer's still there if you ever want to accept. I won't take it back, you're always welcome with me." He's suddenly serious, he brings up this subject every time we talk but this time, he brought it up much earlier than usual. He's probably serious about it this time, but I don't know. If I leave, what would Chad do? Where would he go? And the brothel, I'm one of their most popular workers, if I leave, I don't know what Momo, Rangiku and Yumichika would do. I'm just worried about everyone, about what would happen if I leave. But it's been getting harder to find the will to stay, I know I'm getting really close to saying "yes" and so does Shiro, which makes him dangerous. I'm worried he'll take advantage of me once I decide to leave everything behind, we've never been in a proper setting together before, it was always at the brothel that we would meet.

"I need more time to think, and I'm worried of bad things happening if I decide to leave. Please give me more time, Shiro, I need it." I whisper, so quietly that Shiro could barely hear, especially over the loud laughter and ruckus of the rest of the store.

And then ... Shiro explodes, over all the other voices and sounds, he yells, "TELL ME! TELL ME WHY YOU WON'T LEAVE WITH ME? I'M NOT GONNA HURT YOU IF THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!"

This is new for me, Shiro is usually so calm and cheerful. To have him yell at me, hell, to have him mad at me at all, it's just something I've never had to deal with before. And because of that, I flinch and shrink away from him. "I'm so-" I start.

"Don't you dare finishing that sentence. My offer's still there but ... I'm gonna go, if you change your mind, you know where to find me." Shiro got up and just left, without another glance and word.

He looked so defeated, so hurt. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe, just maybe, he was telling the truth. Maybe everyone would be fine without me. Maybe, I don't have to worry about anyone or anything anymore. Maybe ... Shiro will take care of me.

I shake my head to clear it of the fog that seems to have settled in my mind. I can't get distracted now, I need to clean up my mess and get back to work, get through the day and go home with some money in my pockets.

The rest of the day was a daze, I worked, got tips, money and then Chad came to pick me up. I could tell that he knew something was wrong but I ignored it and pretended everything was fine. I ran around to clock out and gather my things. When I came back out of the break room with my things, I silently walked over to where Chad stood and we walked to our car in more silence.

"How was your day?" Chad asked politely.

I felt guilty as I responded with a cold, "Fine, thank you." And then lapsing back into my cold silence.

"What's wrong?" He got straight to the point. I was really hoping he wouldn't ask about my day.

"Nothing." Vague. Vague is the way to go. He doesn't need to know. He doesn't need to worry.

"I know you're lying. You would only lie to me if it's something serious you don't want to find out about and worry or if you did something wrong that you're guilty/ashamed of." He replies bluntly.

"I'm not lying!" A lie. "I'm perfectly fine!" Another lie. "There's nothing wrong!" So many lies. "Nothing happened today!" I'm such a liar.

Chad just stayed silent for a while. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me. I'm just worried about you."

My guilt grew. I don't want to worry him or snap at him. He's been there for me for as long as I can remember. "I'm sorry." I say quietly. "It's just ... something's come up and ... I don't know how or even if I _want_ to tell you."

"You can tell me anything you want. Whenever you're ready, Ichi. I'm always there for you, I always will be." That didn't help my guilt so I looked out the window and tried to ignore the stifling silence by watching the stars and moon.

"Chad ... If I were to ... say ... leave one day ... what would you do?" I mumbled.

I saw his mouth tighten slightly, so minuscule that anyone who didn't know him well wouldn't even be able to notice. "I would," A pause. "Search for you if you didn't tell me beforehand, and if you did, ask why you're leaving. If it was for a good reason, I would maybe be okay with it." He responded. "Am I coming with you?"

"I haven't decided yet." I said plainly attempting to hide my anguish and the storm raging inside me that is sure to to show in my eyes if I'm not careful.

Chad grunted and turned his attention back to driving while I looked out the window, staring at the glowing stars surrounding the beautiful moon.

When we got home, I took a shower and then I heard a broken ringtone sound out and recognized it as my work phone so I hurriedly ran out to grab the phone before whoever was on the other side of the line hung up. I checked the caller-ID and saw that it was my boss, Ishida Ryuuken. He ran the brothel and also multiple hospitals all over Japan.

"Hello?" I said as politely as I could. Despite the fact that he owned a brothel, he hated whores, prostitutes and escorts with a passion so I readied myself for the insults and demeaning comments that were sure to come.

"We need to talk, boy. Now." He said, right to the point and not an ounce of patience of politeness. "Come to my office in exactly an hour. Don't be late. I'm warning you."

"What do we need to talk about?" My curiosity took over and the words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

"I'll tell you when you get here." His voice was softer and less dangerous. He knew about my current situation, my past and my true identity. He often helped me with my living expenses and only kept up the, "I hate you and all other prostitutes" act when he was in front of others or if he was mad about something so it means that he's alone in his office and whatever we need to talk about isn't something I did wrong.

"Alright sir. I'll be there soon." I replied and then ran out of our small run down apartment, heading towards Ryuuken's office only moments later.

When I arrived, I walked in and knocked on his door gently in case he was talking to someone else or busy. When I heard him call out that I could come in, I gently opened the door knob and peeked my head in.

"Hey, you needed to talk to me about something?" He may not have been mad at me about anything but that didn't mean I wasn't still nervous.

He looked up from whatever he was writing and nodded. "Sit, Ichigo. It's about ... that man."

I froze, that man ... that man could only be one person. Sousuke Aizen. One of the reasons why I left the palace. My uncle and rapist as a child. The memories surged up from the deep recesses of my mind, flashes of what he had done to me, what he said to me. While deep in my recalling of the past, I heard through all the screams going through my head, Ryuuken clearing his throat. His outside interference brought me back to the present. I shook my head to clear it of all the thoughts and memories that had bombarded my brain and the visions that clouded my eyes then looked back at Ryuuken. "Sorry." I mumble.

"Don't worry about it." He said understandingly. "Anyways, the reason why I needed to talk to you was because earlier this morning, Aizen's men came to ask if you were working here. Of course I lied about it but, we need to get you here, the fact that they showed up probably means that they're getting suspicious of this place. Some of them probably saw you coming and going from the brothel often and the customers might have been talking about the red-headed minx. Whatever the reason, you have to leave town. And you can't leave with Sado either, I investigated a little bit before you arrived and turns out, they've been watching him. Some of them are probably already at your apartment waiting for you to come back. They might even already have captured Sado. You have to leave, now."

Right as he had finished his sentence, a bunch of men slammed the office door open and walked through, an air of danger emitting from them. They were Aizen's men.

"We're here for the young prince."

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AN: Teehee, cliffy, evil-ness. So, what'd you think? Good? Great? Bad? Terrible? Was it terrifying? I sure hope not but I can't change your opinions, I hope to see you follow my stories. I'll try to actually work on the story ... I'm bad at working though so please be patient. I'll be more likely to write/upload on weekends in case anyone cares. Reviews are welcome, constructive criticism is wanted but please don't flame, what one person finds to be interesting may not be interesting to another person ._.

Also, starting the next chapter, I'm gonna start writing in 3rd person.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Hey guys, I know this is really late but I've had absolutely no inspiration at all. I know I said I was going to update again once school ended and it ended a long time ago but, again, I've had no inspiration. I'm also really lazy so I just haven't gotten around to updating. I just don't know what to write about to continue the stories so for this chapter, I'm really just gonna wing it, sorry if it's a little bad.

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Warnings: Mature, Yaoi, Alternate Universe, Bad language, Violence, Mentions of Rape/Non-Con, Shouta, Slight OOC-ness

Warnings will be updated as chapters go on since I don't wanna go back to this first chapter every time a new thing develops and I need to add a warning for it.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or it's characters. That's Tite Kubo. I DO own the story line and plot ... as far as I know since I haven't read anything fanfics or books that inspired this, if I'm wrong, please tell me ._.

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**Strawberry's Jade Palace**

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"We're here for the young prince."

Ichigo slowly backed up until his back was against Ryuuken's mahogany desk. Ryuuken stood up and walked forward, just enough to be blocking Ichigo from the other men's view.

Glaring, he asked, "How did you find him?"

"That's for us to know, and you not to know."

"Well at least tell me what your names are. I want to know who to report later on for breaking into my office."

"Old man, is this really the time to be worried about your door?" Ichigo whispered from behind the silver haired brothel owner.

"Shut up, that door was expensive and if I'm right about where this situation is headed, I'm going to need to replace my desk and a lot of my other items around here."

"My name is Ulquiorra Cifer, to my right is Nnoitra Gilga, to my left is Yammy Llargo. I'm quite certain you already know who we're working for so hand the prince over to us." As Ulquiorra finished his introduction, Yammy was knocked down and out. A white blurring streak leaped over his unconscious body and landed next to Ryuuken facing the two, still standing men.

"Shiro? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to rescue the poor damsel in distress." He replied with a wicked, taunting smirk.

"Tch- Bastard, don't call me tha- LOOK OUT!"

Barely dodging the blade heading towards him, Shiro blocked with his own sword.

"Do not waste our time, filthy peasants, Lord Aizen will not be happy if my colleagues and I dawdle around this dirty, run-down shop. We will be taking the prince now." And with that, Nnoitra and Ulquiorra both attacked Shiro, realizing that he was the most threatening person in the room and if they took care of the albino man, the prince would be much easier to secure and capture.

"Go, Berry! I'll take care of these dogs!" Parrying yet another blow, Shiro stationed himself in front of Ichigo and Ryuuken giving them an ample opportunity to escape while he distracted the two men.

"Come, prince, a small hospital I own is not far from here." Ryuuken dragged a reluctant Ichigo away and then pushed Ichigo ahead of him, as they passed through the threshold of the ruined door though, Yammy awakened from his unconscious state and grabbed Ryuuken's coattail.

"Where are you going, doctor?" Yammy sneered with a terrifying expression on his face. Eyes wide, Ichigo took a step back the way he came to try and help Ryuuken.

"No! Ichigo, you must escape! Don't worry about us! We'll hold them off, go seek refuge in my hospital, if neither I nor Shiro are there in 3 hours, you must run without us! We'll hold them off as much as we can! Have Uryuu help you!" All of this was said as Ryuuken barely held off the giant, sweat dripping from his forehead, chin and nose. "GO!"

And with that, Ichigo ran, he ran faster than he had run in years, faster than he had years ago when he had run away from the castle, from his father, from Aizen, and away from Grimmjow, the love of his life.

Panting, Ichigo sprinted out of the brothel and headed in the direction of the hospital that Ryuuken spoke of, looking back only once to see the fighting through the window and then closing door. Looking back one last time before running away for good, promising himself it would be the final glance back at the life he once had. Somehow, while speaking to Ryuuken, watching the fighting and escaping, time had passed quickly, almost unnaturally. The sun was already setting, the moon and stars already starting to appear in the sky as hues of reds, oranges, yellows and purples wove themselves through the sky and clouds. The final scene that Ichigo saw was the simple yet clean sign above the door of the store, The Jade Palace. And the strawberry ran from his Jade Palace, into the sunset and away from his past.

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AN: That's it for this chapter. I'm so horrible at updating and I was going to update through the summer but I just never got around to it, my birthday was yesterday and today is my grandmother's birthday so I thought I'd celebrate the occasion with shopping, games, cake and and update at 2 in the morning. I'm not sure when I'll update again, just keep yourself posted, I'm sure to come back until I finish the stories. I'm not sure where I'm going with the story either ... Authors have deadlines and editors to keep them on their toes and updating/writing regularly, I don't have either so, I'll just be lazy and procrastinate to the last second like everything else I do, like dragging out this AN for no reason other than I want to silently babble in the early morning. Babbling early morning is good for not falling asleep but I'm sure I shouldn't drag this out anymore. Review please, flames ... are undesirable, know the difference between criticizing within logical terms and just plain insulting a work.


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